Churches should promote disability studies in theological institutions and recruit persons into ordained ministry, youth with disabilities urged after attending the 12th General Assembly of the All Africa Conference of Churches in Abuja, Nigeria.
Rev. Dr Evans Onyemara, general secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria, attended the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee meeting from 8-14 November in Abuja, Nigeria. He took time to reflect on accomplishments and challenges in his country, and why he’s grateful for the presence of the WCC.
Members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee visited an array of churches in Nigeria on 12 November, bringing a deep spiritual aspect to their gathering, taking place in Abuja from 8-14 November.
Matthias Schmale is a UN resident and humanitarian coordinator based in Nigeria. He previously served with the UN Relief and Works Agency, and is also a former World Council of Churches (WCC) steward. He took some time to reflect on his concerns, current work, and fond memories of his days as a steward.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee will meet 8-14 November in Abuja, Nigeria to approve plans and budget for 2024, and to further develop the Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity.
“They came to our house. We refused to open the door so they broke in though the window.”
That’s how Damaris Blessing Tiswan, a finance student at Kaduna Polytechnic, began describing her ordeal of being kidnapped with her four siblings at midnight.
At an online roundtable hosted by the All Africa Conference of Churches, male “champions for gender justice” shared their ideas and insights during their yearlong service as men who are helping to prevent gender-based violence.
World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed deep concern about the worsening security situation in Nigeria, and the impact on the people and churches of the country.
Members of the Christian Council of Nigeria have adopted “Out of the Shadows,” a resource designed to end all forms of sexual violence against children.
As children and women in Nigeria become targets of rising insecurity and violence, churches are moving to offer support to the victims, while amplifying their voice against the challenge, according to senior Christian women leaders in the West African nation.
Religious leaders condemned the kidnapping of 140 schoolchildren from the Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna, Nigeria, and called for their full release. The attack on 5 July was the fourth mass school kidnapping in Kaduna state since December. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy programme will hold workshops in April 2021 on HIV treatment adherence in Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
For the people of Nigeria, 2020 was a gruelling year as they faced the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuing scourge of the extremist militant group Boko Haram, extrajudicial killings, and violent responses to popular protests against police brutality and other social and economic issues.
Damaris, a Nigerian woman, described her experience of 2020: “We’ve gone through hell.”
Damaris and her sisters were kidnapped in March 2020 and threatened with death as their kidnappers demanded money. Her father had to sell everything and beg on the streets to meet their demands. “We are just a common people in Nigeria,” she said. “We don’t know what we did.”
Two workshops in Nigeria and Tanzania organized by local church councils in collaboration with the World Council of Churches (WCC), All Africa Conference of Churches, and UNICEF consolidated the partnership on ending sexual violence against children.
Last month, three members of Nigeria’s Christian community spoke to Government representatives in Geneva, spotlighting the challenges that children, and particularly girls, face in their society. Their meetings took place ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of their country, at the United Nations this week.
On 6 November, Rev. Samson Olasupo A. Ayokunle, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria and Nigerian Baptist Convention, offered a morning prayer about “Empowering Our Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace through Love" during the WCC Executive Committee meeting in Uppsala, Sweden.
Fifty adolescents, young people, teachers, theologians, health professionals, people living with HIV and religious leaders met in Abuja from 22-26 May to discuss positive masculinities and femininities in faith communities.
The WCC, World Evangelical Alliance and All Africa Conference of Churches, along with church-related humanitarian organizations and a coalition of church-related networks and organizations and partners, are planning 10 June 2018 as a second Global Day of Prayer to End Famine to be observed in faith congregations worldwide.
